Taipei City Government to keep Xinyi Road trees

By Mo Yan-chih / Staff Reporter

Trees on Xinyi Road near the National Concert Hall in Taipei are pictured from a nearby building yesterday.

Photo: Chen Ching-min, Taipei Times

The Taipei City Government yesterday promised to keep more than 200 trees on Xinyi Road amid ongoing construction of the MRT’s Xinyi Line, with Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) vowing to turn Taipei into a greener city by planting more trees to provide shade along major roads.

Taipei City’s Department of Rapid Transit Systems originally planned to remove 286 banyan trees and autumn maple trees in July on part of the Xinyi Road between Zhongshan S Road and Hangzhou S Road for the construction of new bus lanes, but later decided to adjust the location of bus lanes and keep the trees instead.

“We decided to make way for the trees to respect the environment and Xinyi Road will be one of the major roads to have trees lining the sidewalk to provide shade. We will turn Taipei into a city with tree-lined roads and make the city greener,” Hau said yesterday at Taipei City Hall.

Department of Rapid Transit Systems Commissioner Jason Lin (林志盈) said the construction of the new bus lanes would still begin in July and the department will also expand the sidewalks and plant more trees along the road.

The construction of the Xinyi Line is scheduled to be completed next year.

Increasing the number of trees in Taipei was one of Hau’s campaign promises last year. To implement the policy, the city government is set to form a task force to discuss the project this week.

Taipei City’s Department of Urban Development said the city has decided to turn Songshan Road into a “scenic boulevard” by expanding the sidewalks and planting trees along the 1km long road.

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